Sadistik Cemetery 4645 W. State Ave., Glendale Haunting sights like creepy spiders, towering skeletons and demonic fiends lurk between the tombstones at this graveyard-like display. The colored spotlights in orange, green and red enhance the chilling atmosphere. Details: Dusk to 8:30 p.m., Sunday through Tuesday; dusk to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays. Free. Grovers Graves 17657 N. 42nd St. A graveyard with bizarre plants, fiendish jack-o’-lanterns, unique beasts and other colorfully strange creations crafted by artist Keif Martin adorns his north Phoenix yard. This year’s display features new items crafted from recycled materials, including a few ghost riders. Details: 6 to 9 p.m., Mondays through Thursdays; 6 to 10 p.m., Fridays through Sundays, from Oct. 2 to 31. Free. Happy Haunted Pumpkin Patch 18639 N. First Ave. northphoenixlights.neocities.org You might not find the Great Pumpkin outside Carl Jimenez’s home, but you will encounter 200 plastic jack-o’- lanterns lighting up his north Phoenix yard. These grinning gourds, both silly and spooky, will flicker in a 30-minute synchronized show set to music starting Oct. 15. Details: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., n, Oct. 1 to 31. Free. Canary Manor 18887 E. Canary Way, Queen Creek Tawnee Spence’s yard display is creepy, kooky, mysterious, and spooky, featuring characters like Frankenstein and Freddy Krueger, as well as scenes set in a mausoleum and a cemetery swamp. New this year: a pirate ship and skeletons escaping from a coffin. Details: 6:30 to 9:30 p.m., nightly until Oct. 31. Free. Eddie Shriner’s Home Haunt 2427 W. Vista Ave. Eddie Shriner’s Halloween display has to be seen to be believed. Hundreds of frightening figures, animatronic char- acters and life-sized creatures adorn his yard or follow a winding path into the back. The menacing menagerie includes horror film favorites and enough killer clowns to give you night- mares. Details: 6 to 9 p.m., Sundays to Thursdays; 6 to 10 p.m., Fridays and Saturdays through Oct. 31. Free. Hallowsevolve 12905 N. 147th Drive, Surprise instagram.com/hallowsevolve Terror runs deep at Krista and John Droski’s annual home Halloween display. This year, their two-story resi- dence is decked out with a “Sea Legends of Old” theme. Expect ghost ships, tempting sirens and a mockup of Davy Jones’s locker. Details: Dusk to 10 p.m., Oct. 25 to 27 and Oct. 31. Free, but donations to St. Mary’s Food Bank are encouraged. Skeleton House AZ 23625 N. 117th Drive, Sun City instagram.com/skeletonhouseaz This unique display is anything but bare bones. A parade of skeletons wearing cowboy hats and climbing light poles along 117th Avenue north of Pinnacle Peak Road leads to a western town with a hotel, saloon and other structures popu- lated with more bony figures. An animatronic show occurs from dusk until midnight on Oct. 18, 25, 26 and 31. Details: Dusk until dawn, nightly through Oct. 31. Free. Phoenix Dead Rising 8611 N. 30th Drive Nick Chryst transforms his yard into a ghostly haunt equipped with tombstones, enveloped in stage fog and eerily aglow with color. A legion of skeletons and other menacing characters create an ominous tableau beckoning all to explore. Details: 6 to 10 p.m., nightly from Oct. 11 to 31. Free. Terror Nights Haunted House 511 E. La Donna Drive, Tempe facebook.com/terrornightsaz The Stoudt family scares up a good time at its popular DIY walk-through haunt. Frights await around every corner inside themed areas like “Maniac’s Revenge” and “Dining Room of the Dead” and characters like Michael Myers are known to prowl. Consider yourself warned. Details: 7 to 10 p.m., Oct. 26 to 30. Free, but donations are accepted and nonper- ishable food items will be collected for local charities. A small sample of Eddie Shriner’s display. (Photo by Benjamin Leatherman) The grinning plastic gourds of the Happy Haunted Pumpkin Patch. (Photo by Benjamin Leatherman) PHOENIX’S BEST HAUNTED HOUSES AND HALLOWEEN DISPLAYS IN 2024 BY BENJAMIN LEATHERMAN W ant to see something really scary? You’re not alone. It’s officially the Halloween season and everybody is in the mood for spooky fun. Local commercial haunted attractions like Fear Farm, Mill of Madness and Mesa’s Sanctum of Horror are happy to oblige and will serve up scares until the end of October. Professional haunters aren’t the only ones providing thrills and chills, though. For others, terror begins at home. Halloween die-hards across the Valley are trans- forming their residences into homespun haunted houses or creating gigantic displays filled with decorations galore. You’ll find commercial haunted attractions, DIY displays and home haunts around metro Phoenix for Halloween 2024 in the following guide. Read on and let the spirit move you. >> p 18
